I've worked as a designer for a couple decades. There's a lot of bad UI out there, but it's only bad because making complex apps usable is really, really hard. And, in general, web UX and usability has come a long way in a short time. For example, small companies didn't usability test at all when I started out, unless they were way in front of the trend. Nowadays they do, unless they are way behind the trend.

I have also not observed a change that emphasizes form over function. If anything it's been the opposite, because today's product-driven world knows that websites which are easy to use make more money.

(There is this question of whether the design benefits the users, or if it is only to serve the company's bottom line, even at the expense of user happiness. These incentives lead to so-called dark patterns, but I don't call that behavior "bad" in the sense of execution, even though it is "bad" in the sense of morality.)

There's also been a ton of standardization in UI patterns, which lowers the floor on just how awful a UI can really be. Those had to be invented, and now they're relatively stable. We have good patterns now for how to make a product listing, or a detail page, or a checkout process, or an accessible form. And they are widely known. In many cases they've just been internalized by younger designers before they even start. There aren't many Kai's Power Tools style UIs out there anymore.

In general, I've observed web design getting better and better. It's easy to cherry pick counterexamples, but I would not go back to the design of the average early 00s website.